Ariana Makes the Mask Come Alive

Hand-Painted and Machine Printed Masks

So we finally found an awesome art studio to help us out with applying our designs to the #3d surfaces of the #masks. We also learned that the best way to have the images prepared are in #Vector format. I’m such a novice with all of this stuff and it looks like I’ll need to take an #Adobe class (a #Photoshop class wouldn’t hurt either). That was definitely a relief to figure out this important step as it will help us take our computerized designs and reproduce them for the #mass-market.
The other breakthrough we had was in regard to finding an awesome team of #hand-painters who will also be able to reproduce both computer images I create and images that come directly from the artists we’ve invited to work with us on the #Kosmask Project. Exciting times are ahead for sure!
Today I posted new images from artist #ChrisKienke on the ‘originals’ page. Chris is a good friend of mine from the old #KCAI days and is an awesome painter. I’m really excited to show his work in #Atlanta at the #AmericasMart show, #AtlMkt July 11th thru 15th.

My Final Day in LA

So my time here comes to a close and my plane leaves at 1 am in 15 hours. We ended up selecting an interesting 3d printing process where images are machine-printed onto a 3 dimensional surface. We decided to use an ultrahigh scanned image of a red oriental rug. It was actually one of the only ones that could be adjusted down to 35″, so it was a success and should exemplify what our potential will be. Our team of of designers are working on this as I type. The nascent technology is very promising and if we can get #detail that comes close to the below example, then we’ll be able to accomplish a lot of our goals. We’ll have this sample in one month from today and at #AtlMkt in July. Booth113.

Los Angeles #Kickstarter Preparation

Ok, so we were able to get plenty of footage of artists working in their studios or on #Kosmask and we’re now looking to get more people introduced to the project. We’ll be offering some awesome project rewards, including a very special 3 month #artistresidnecy in Los Angeles. We’ve got an incredible 2-artist studio in #RedondoBeach just minutes away from where it’s all happening! #DowntownLA  #SantaMonica  #CulverCity Due to the overwhelming positive reaction we’ve gotten so far with the masks, we’ll soon be broadening our reach to other wonderful artists in the Greater LA area and around the world. Keep a watch on this blog for announcements and opportunities. We expect to do quite a few exciting and innovative things in the near future. I’m always interested in reviewing portfolios so please feel free to email my your portfolio through Dropbox (at  Kosmas@kosmask.com) and spread Kosmask around to any collectors, artists, designers, etc. Thank you! Kosmas

Los Angeles – Day 4

This weekend has been super productive for the #Kosmask #FOCA #LA was a great night as we met several people from the organization and told them a little about what we were planning to do at #AmericasMart #AtlMkt in July, and what we were planning to do in preparation of opening #KAJart later this year. KAJ Art is intended to be our primary focus, and where Kosmask will be sold, but also where we have a rotating schedule of gallery artists on display and for sale. So our offering would be about 10% Kosmask, 65% main exhibition artists, and roughly 25% for several of our gallery artists, which will also rotate year round.

We visited the #ArtsDistrict in #DowntownLA yesterday, and a cluster of about 12 very nice galleries in #CulvertCity the day before. Unfortunately there wasn’t any signage at the latter so everything looked closed. I’m not sure if they were trying to be #elitist but it was a little #strange, and perhaps borderlined on pretentious. It was Saturday and we had a little time on our hands (and since we had made the drive), decided to walk up to each of the galleries . To our surprise they were all open and so we went in and talked to the gallerists. They were all very nice and were telling us a little about the scene and what’s going on. The kind owner at the first gallery said there wasn’t any type of #artwalk or crawl that brings people together in an event-like setting. That’s too bad because the area would benefit tremendously from something like that. Again, it was a little strange because the galleries were so beautiful on the inside, looked non-existent on the outside, and there was absolutely noone walking around outside (and we were there for at least an hour).

Yesterday, we spent most of our day taking video footage which we will use for our upcoming #Kickstarter project which will be live by the end of May. We’re looking to raise funds so we can produce and sip about 1000 of the #masks and getting the gallery going.  We’ve got so many ideas of what we want to do, including a new #ArtistResidency that we’ll offer to International artists who haven’t been exposed to the incredible culture that Los Angeles offers.

We rounded off the day at #AngelCityBewery which was a lot of fun. We had originally scheduled an #ArtMeetup to meet with aspiring artists for the mask project. The brewery was ideal because it’s located in the heart of the Downtown Arts District and is one of the most notable landmarks in the area. We spent a couple hours there meeting people and telling them about what it is we’re doing. People really enjoyed talking, and taking mask selfies, and some of even agreed to pose with the masks which will be used in our social media campaign.  It was a lot of fun and the people we met (and actually everyone I’ve met so far), have been very fun and interesting people. I can’t wait to be living here full-time beginning in September! I have almost 2 full days left in LA and then it’s back home to #FtMyers #Florida where there is still so much to do!